The Emptiness of Ideas

In Buddhism, Opinion
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There is nothing more powerful in this world than an idea. Ideas have no tangible existence that can be measured. You can’t see an idea. You can’t taste it. You can’t touch it. Ideas are neither as small as a pinhead nor as large as a galaxy. They are simultaneously nothing and everything.

That sort of power is dangerous. Ideas can be used for great good or great harm.

For safety’s sake, ideas should be small. Ideas should not be capable of misinterpretation.

If your idea can possibly result in one person killing another person and thinking it righteous, your idea sucks. You didn’t formulate a safe idea. You didn’t think it through. You lacked the empathy to consider how someone else might interpret your idea.

This is my problem with most of the world’s religions: not enough care went into making sure that these ideas are fully safe, and we see the disastrous results of that folly on a daily basis.

Car companies don’t just put a car on the market without testing it rigorously. It has to be proven safe and durable. Ideas, with their increased level of potential danger, should be tested even more so.

When a company makes an unsafe car, it gets recalled. The trouble is, you can’t recall an idea. Once you’ve loosed an idea on the world, you’ve unleashed a monster you can no longer control.

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